Interlocking relay



Au@ 3, 194s. M. G. NELSEN 2,446,299

INTERLOCKING RELAY Filed Feb. 14, 1944 2 .Sheets-Sheet l launcht/[blz72.514 a Vofz Patented Aug. 3, 1F48 2,446,299 INTERLOCKING'RELAY MarvinG. Nelsen, Skokie, Ill., assignor to Guardian Electric ManufacturingCo., Chicago, lll., a corporation o! Illinois Application February 14,1944, Serial No. 522,361

1 claim. (ci. 20o-9s) This invention relates to improvements in controldevices for split-field, series types oi motors, adapted to be driven ineither direction, and more particularly to control devices fordynamically braking and instantaneously arresting the motor incident toopening the main contacts of the motor circuit.

Control devices of this type are adapted to a relatively wide iield ofuse wherein apparatus or mechanisms are to be motor driven in either oftwo directions or within a predetermined range ci' movement from aneutral or zero starting position. Such controls are especially suitablefor aircraft use, for Vcontrolling the position of wing naps, trim tabs,landing gear and other devices and apparatus.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a novel control ofthe character indicated for controlling a split-iield series type otmotor, wherein the opposite section oi the iield winding is energizedwhen the circuit for the section of the iield previously energized isopened, to eect dynamic braking and instantaneous arresting of themotor.

Another object is to provide a novel control of the character indicated,having separate dual sets of motor contacts for each ileld section ofthe motor and separate sets of shunt contacts i'or each field section ofthe motor, together with interconnections for making and breaking thecontacts, whereby a set of motor contacts and a set of shunt contactsare caused to close and short circuit the iield section previouslyenergized for effecting dynamic braking and instantaneous arresting ofthe motor.

A further object is to provide a novel control of the characterindicated having separate sets of shunt contacts for the respectivefield sections of a split-eld series type oi motor andelectromagnetically actuated snap-action toggle means for controllingthe making and breaking of the shunt contacts.

Figure 1 is a planl view of the control device embodying the presentinvention, with parts broken away to show details of construction.

Figure 2 is an end elevational view oi the device, taken substantiallyas indicated at line 2-2 on Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view through the device, takensubstantially as indicated at line 3--3 on Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a sectional view showing the toggle arrangement andinterlocking connections, and taken substantially as indicated at line4-4 on Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a, sectional view through the snapaction toggle connection,taken substantially as indicated at line 5-5 on Figure 4.

Still another object is to provide a novel control device oi thecharacter indicated comprising two separate electro-magnetic devices forrespectively controlling sets of contacts for lbranch electric circuitsto drive the motor in opposite directions, together with meansinterlocking the movable armatures of the magnetic devices forprecluding simultaneously energization of said two magnetic devices.

Other objects and advantages oi this invention will be apparent from thefollowing description, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Figure 6 is a wiring diagram including my novel control device, shown inconnected relation to the respective iield sections of a split-fieldseries type of motor.

The control device embodying the present invention may for conveniencebe termed an nterlocking relay and is constructed as a. unitary device,including a panel i0 of insulating material, to which the operatingparts of the device are attached.

Mounted on the base i, are a pair of electromagnetic devices indicatedgenerally at A and B, of identical construction, and each havingassociated therewith identical sets of'motor circuit contacts. Forconvenience in understanding the construction and operation oi thedevice, similar parts of the electro-magnetic devices and contactstructures will be accorded similar reference numerals together with thedesignations of the small reference letters a and b for the respectiveelectro-magnets A and B. The electromagnet A and associated contactswill now be described and it may be understood that the electro-magnet Band its associated contacts is of identical construction. Theelectro-magnet A includes a cylindrical housing l2a formed as a sheetmetal stamping, enclosing a, coil Ida. The housing lla, which is of cupshape form, is rigidly attached at its open end to a rectangular flangeIlia, which flange terminates at its lower end in a horizontal foot |6a,secured to the panel I0 by screws (not shown). Mounted for reciprocablemovement within the coil Ila, is an armature or plunger l8a. Fixedlymounted on the plunger I8a, in axially spaced apart relation, are threediscs 20a, Zia and 22a oi.' insulating material. Loosely mounted on theplunger Ia, in insulated relation thereto, between the discs 20a and2|a,

disposed contact bar 24a, urged in an outwardly aaaaaaa direction by acoil spring 35a, surrounding the i plunger.

panel 28a, is another panel 29a of insulating ma- These panels arerigidly secured in such.

terial. spaced apart relation to the ange la by stud bolts 30a.Surrounding said bolts, intermediate the said panels 28a and 29a, aretubular spacing sleeves la, of insulating material. These sleeves, asmay be clearly seen in Figure 4 in the drawings, serve to provideguideways for conning the movable contact bar 24a, in its horizontalmovement incident to energization and deenergization of theelectro-magnet A. Mounted on the adjacent surfaces of the insulatingpanels y28a and 29a, adjacent the outer ends thereof as seen in Figure lof the drawings, are upwardly extending fixed contact members 33a. 34a,35a and 36a, provided with contact buttons 31a, 38a, 39a and tllarespectively. Said xed contact bars are rigidly secured to therespective panels by the stud bolts 36a and the insulating sleeves 3io.extend into apertures (not shown) formed in the respective contact barsfor insulating said bars from each other. Disposed in alignment with'the respective sets of contacts of said fixed members are contactbuttons 52a, 63a, @da and 65a, at opposite ends of the movable contactbar 2da. The upper ends of the xed contact members terminate above saidpanels 2da and 29a, in horizontal flanges, as seen in Figure 4 of thedrawings, and are provided with binding screws t1, for the connection ofconductor wires, or for connection of certain of the xed contact memberstogether.

The fixed contact member 36a of the magnet A,

and the xed contact member Stb of the magnet B, are connected togetherby a bar 5), of electrically conductive material, and it may beunderstood that this bar is adapted to be directly connected to thepositive side of a storage battery in the electric circuit hereinafterdescribed. The nxed contact members tta and 36h of the respectivemagnets are likewise connected by a bar 5l of electrically conductivematerial. The respective sets of contacts above described for each ofthe electro-magnets are adapted to be connected respectively into branchelectric circuits for respectively controlling separate eld sections ofa split-held, series-type motor.

Fixedly mounted at the forward end of the panel l0 is an upright panel55 of insulating material, rigidly attached to the electro-magnetassembly by extensions of the two inner most pair of stud bolts 30a and30h. Mounted on the inner face of the panel 55, are two pairs oftransversely spaced-apart contacts 56, 51 and 58, 59, as seen in 'Figure2 of the drawings. 'I'h'e contacts 56 and 58 are connected together by abar 60 of electrically conductive material as seen in Figures 1 and 2 ofthe drawings. Cooperating with the respective pairs of contacts 56, 51and 58. 59-are similar sets of contacts indicated at 6l, t2 and 63, 64,mounted on a panel of insulating material 65. The contacts 6l and 62 areconnected by a bridging bar 61 and the contacts 63 and 64 are connectedby a bridging bar 68 as seen in Figure 3 of the drawings. The panel r65is adapted to be rocked by a snap-action toggle mechanism in oppositedirections, for rapidly and yieldingly urging, alternately, therespective sets of contacts 6l 62 into and out of cooperative engagementwith the fixed contacts 56 and 51, and the other sets of contacts 63, @dinto and out of engagement with' the fixed contacts 58 and 59, by togglemechanism as will now be described.

A T-shaped rocking member 10 in the form of a sheet metal stamping, ispivotally mounted on a pin 1l, carried by a clevis form of bracket 12,which is rigidly secured to the inner surface of the panel 55 by screws13. The outer ends of the member 1D are forked, as clearly seen inFigure 3 of the drawings, and straddled as a yoke, the respectiveplungers of the electro-magnets A and B, with the fork ends interposedrespectively between the outermost insulating discs 22a and 22h, and theadjacent insulating panels 29a and 29h of th'e respectiveelectro-magnets. The insulating panel 65, carrying the respective setsof contacts 6l, 62 and 63, 64 is resiliently mounted on the member 10,by headed rivets 16, with coil springs 11, surrounding the rivets andinterposed between said panel 65 and the member 1l! as clearly seen inFigure 1 of the drawings. The headed rivets 16 are rigidly attached tothe member 10 and their opposite ends are freely movable throughthefpanel 65, so that in one position of rocked adjustment of th'emember 10, one of the coil springs 11 is compressed and tends toyieldingly urge the corresponding end of the panel 65 in a forwardlydirection so that the contacts at said end of the panel are yieldinglyurged into cooperative engagement with the correspondingly aligned pairof shunt contacts on the panel 55.

The rocking member 1li includes a rearwardly and centrally extending arm80, formed of two vertically spaced apart members which arecontinuations of the sides of said member 10, as clearly seen in Figure4 of the drawings. The rocking member 10, together with the panel 65 andits contacts, is rocked about the pivot 1I by the engagement of theouter end of said member 10, with the insulating disc at the outer endof the plunger of one of the electro-magnets. To insure that therespective sets of contacts carried by the panel 65 are moved into andout of engagement with their cooperating contacts in a manner to insurepositive making and breaking and to reduce arcing, I provide a snapaction toggle connection associated with the arm of the rocking member10. Fixedly secured in the outer end of the two vertically spaced apartmembers of the arm 80 is a built up member 85, composed of three sheetsof metal, the innermost sheet as indicated at 86, being extremely thinand projecting at its rear edge a short distance beyond the other sheetsof metal, and formed with a tapered tang 81 substantially centrally ofthe distance between the members comprising the arm 80. Mounted inaligned relation to the tang 81,

vis a similar tang 89 formed on the projecting edge of an intermediaterelatively thin sheet 90 of a three-ply built up member 9i, which inturn is rigidly attached to an upright leg. 92 of an angular bracket 93,the horizontal leg of which is rigidly attached to the mounting base l0,by means of screws 94. The use of the relatively thin sheets of metal 86and 90, is so that the edges adjacent the respective tangs, form knifeedge rocking seats for the flanges of a pair of tubular, flanged,telescoping eyelet members 95 and 96, the apertures of which aredisposed in surrounding relation to the respective tangs, and with theflanges thereof seated on the edges of the thin sheets of metal 86 and.90, 1as clearly seen in Figure 5 of the drawings. Surrounding thetubular eyelets, is a coil spring 91 having its opposite ends abuttingthe inner face of the respective flanges of the eyelet members and.normally tending t0 urge the eyelets apart. It will now be apparent thatwhen the arm 80 is moved from the position seen in Figure 1 of thedrawings, by energization of the electro-magnet A, in a counterclockwise direction, the coil spring 91 is compressed and energy builtup therein, and as the arm moves slightly beyond the plane of alignmentof the re` spective tangs 86 and 89, the built up energy of the springel will act with a snap action to quickly shift the arm 80 to a positionopposite that seen in Figure 1 of the drawings. Such movement of therocking member I0 thus eiects rapid making and breaking of contactengagement between the contacts carried on the movable panel 65 and theshunt contacts on the fixed panel 55.

For convenience the respective sets of cooper-l ating bridging -contactscarried by the movable panel 65 and the shunt contacts on the iixedpanel 55 may all be referred to as shunt contacts because of theirconnection in shunt or short circuit relation to portions of thecircuits for the respective :deld sections of the motor.

It will now be apparent when the electro-magnets are deenergized andassume a position as seen in Figure 1 of the drawings, one pair of motorcontacts of each dual set is closed, and the other pair are open, andwhen either magnet is energized, the other pair of motor contacts isclosed and the first mentioned pair are opened. For example, when theelectro-magnet A is energized, the plunger |8a` is retracted and theinsulating disc 2 la abuts against the movable contact bar 24a, movingits contacts 42a and 44a out of engagement with the iixed contacts 39aand 40a, and causes engagement of the contacts 43a and 45a respectivelywith contacts 31a and 38a. Such inward movement of the plunger Isa,acting through the insulating disc 22a, causes rocking 'movement of themember 10 about its pivot pin l l, breaking engagement between contactbuttons 8|, 62 and shunt contact buttons 5E, 51, and effectingengagement of contact buttons 63, 64 with the shunt contact buttons 58,59. When the solenoid B is energized the dual sets of motor contactscontrolled thereby are similarly actuated and the shunt contacts areactuated in opposite relation, throughV the toggle action abovedescribed. By virtue of this construction, either of the electro-magnetsmay be energized and deenergized a number of times in sequence, butdueto the interlocking construction provided Iby the toggle action andthe rockingmember '|0, at no time can both electro-magnets besimultaneously energized.

Operation For convenience in understanding of the present invention Ihave shown in the wiring diagram of the drawing a representation of asplit eld series .type motor 'indicated at 98, including split eldsections indio-ated at 99 land |00. For purposes of clarity, in thedrawings the control device is illustrated without any wiringconnections. As may be seen in the wiring diagram, normally when bothelectro-magnets A and B are deenergized the main operating motorcontacts of the respective electro-magnets are open. When theelectro-magnet A is energized the contact bar 24a is moved out ofengagement with contacts 39a and "a, and completes the motor circuitthrough the contacts 31a and 38a, and positive side oi' the batteryconnector bar 50, for energizing of the iield section 99 of the motor,the opposite side o! which circuit is connected' through the armature.to ground as seen in the drawing. 'As long as Ithe magnet A remainsenergized the motor/continues to rotate in one direction. Incident tosuch en ergization of the magnet A Ithe shun-t contacts 58 and 59 arebridged by the connector Ibair 68 to partially complete a shunt or shortcircuit for the iield section |00. When the electro-magnet A isdeenergized and the contact bar 24a moves out of engagement lwithcontacts 31a and 38a and bridges the contacts 39a Iand 40a, the shunt orshort circuit for the field section |00, as above described, iscompleted. When the motor circuit is broken by the opening of contacts31a and 38a, the armature will tend to overrun. This causes the motor toact as a generator. When contacts 39a and 40a are closed, this generatedcurrent flows through armature 98, field |00, relay contacts 50, .59,shorting bar '68, contacts 39h and `40h, contacts 40a and 39a to ground.This current sets up a magnetic iiux opposing the rotation of thearmature, causing the amature to come to an almost immediate stop andthereby dynamically braking the motor. It will be seen that this samecondition attains each time that the electro-magnet A is energized anddeenergized.

When .the electro-magnet B is energized the contact bar 2lb completesthe motor circuit for the neld section |00 through the contacts 31h,38h, and the battery current supply bar 50, to the field section |00 andthrough armature of the motor directly to ground for driving lthe motorin the opposite direction. Such energization of the electro-magnet Bcauses the shunt circuit actuating mechanism to be reversed so that theshunt contacts 5B, 51 are bridged by the connector bar 61. When themagnet B is deenergized, the contact bar' 2lb opens the main motorcircuit by breaking connection between contacts 31h and 38D, andreestablishes connection between contacts 39h and 40h, to complete theshunt or short circuit of the neld section 99, so as to dynamicallybrake and instantaneously arrest rotation of the motor.

It will be apparent that by virtue of the construction above described,itis impossible for both l iield sections of the motor to besimultaneously energized by current supplied from the battery, and onlyone field section may be energized at a time so that the motor may bereadily controlled and driven in either direction, depending upon whichof the two electro-magnets A or Bis energized. Furthermore, my controldevice permits rapid and accurate control and positioning of variousmotor driven mechanisms or apparatus.

Although I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of myinvention, manifestly it is capable of modiilcation and rearrangement ofparts without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. I do not,therefore, wish to be understood as limiting this invent-ion .to theprecise embodiment herein disclosed, except as I may be so limited bythe appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

'In a control device for use with a motor, the combination of a pair ofelectromagnets each having a movable armature, contacter bars ,connectedto each armature, separate, dual sets of motor contacts for each magnetcontrolled by the con- Itactor bars of the respective magnets, one pairof contacts of each set being adapted to be closed by a contacter barwhen the .corresponding magnet is deenergized and the other pair ofcontacts of each set being adapted to be closed by said contactor bar,when the corresponding magnet is energized, a separate set of shuntcontacts for each famme v magnetl connected respectively in circuit withsaid one pair of motor contacts, and means actuated in response toalternate energizatlons of said magnets for closing their respectivepairs of shunt contacts. said means including a rockableI 5 memberpivotally mounted adjacent the center of its length and having imopposite ends operably connected to said armatures, said member beingrocked in opposite directions incident to alternate energization of saidmagnets, resiliently mounted 10 contact elements carried on and ininsulated relation .to `said member and positioned for cooperativeengagement with the respective pairs of shunt contacts. wherebyalternate energdzation of said magnets rocks said member -in oppositedirections for causing the contact elements to close alternately thecorresponding Pairs .of shunt contacts, and a snap-action-deviceconnected to and operated bysaid means in response toalternateenersiz'ation ci?` said magnets for controlling the make and break ofsaid pairs of shunt contacts.

` MARVIN G. NELSEN.

is REFERENCES lCITED The following references are of record in the fileof this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 489,674 Goold Jan. 10, 1893811,773 Gomborow Feb. 6, 1906 965,671 Whittingham July 26, 19101,291,039 Lowensteln et a1. Jan. 14, 1919 1,486,385` Laing Mar. 11, 19241,522,766 Wllms Jan. 13, 1925 1,550,611 Howe Aug. 18, 1925 1,614,192Ewald Jan. 11, 1927 1,954,365 Reich Apr. 10, 1934 1,983,137 Koons Dec.4, 1934 2,396,972 Russell Mar. 19, 1946 l FOREIGN PATENTS l20 NumberCountry Date 267,502 Great Britain Dec. 15, 1927

